Moth
by Voz
Summary: A series of strange and frightening occurrences are plagueing Hogwarts. Warning: This story takes place after Order of the Phoenix, so it may contain some spoilers. The story may be rather confusing at first, but bear with me. Read & Review, please!
1. The call

Hello Fanfiction.net! This is my second fanfic and my very first Harry Potter fanfic. I don't own any of the characters in this story, but who cares about that?  
  
This story takes place during Harry's sixth year, so you may want to wait until you read Order of the Phoenix, if you haven't already, before starting on this story.  
  
Well, here goes! The first few chapters may be rather confusing, but bear with me. It will all make sense in the end.  
  
MOTH  
  
CHAPTER 1:  
  
THE CALL  
  
It was a hot summer day in the middle of July. Harry was sitting at the table in the Dursleys' kitchen, eating a bowl of corn flakes, his uncle, aunt, and cousin all intentionally taking no notice of him, which was quite normal.  
  
Uncle Vernon had his purple face buried in the newspaper, while Dudley was glued to the television screen, watching a pro wrestling match.  
  
Aunt Petunia walked into the kitchen and noticed her piggy son watching his precious box. "Don't forget to breathe again, dear," she reminded him, gently placing a bony hand on Dudley's fat shoulder.  
  
"Okay," he mumbled in reply, without the slightest change of expression.  
  
Uncle Vernon finally looked up from his paper with a look of satisfaction. "Nessie Project's failed to find anything in Loch Ness yet again," he informed his wife. "Big surprise. You think they'd know by now that nothing's in that lake."  
  
Except kelpies, Harry thought to himself, trying hard not to smile.  
  
"I suppose you're right," Aunt Petunia agreed.  
  
Dudley grunted in approval, now inches away from the TV screen. One of the wrestlers on the TV had just leaped onto his opponent and began pulling at his hair, which Harry thought would have looked real if the wrestler howling in pain even had any hair to pull.  
  
Suddenly, the phone rang. Aunt Petunia hurried towards it, picked the receiver up out of its cradle, and put it to her ear. "Hello...What the...."  
  
"What?" Uncle Vernon grunted in annoyance, once again fascinated with his newspaper.  
  
"Vernon, come and listen to this!"  
  
Reluctantly, Uncle Vernon stood up and left his precious newspaper lying on the table. He took the phone from Aunt Petunia's bony hand and put it to his ear, but quickly pulled it away. "What in bloody Hell?" he said with a baffled look upon his beetlike face.  
  
Overwhelmed with curiosity, Harry quickly and quietly walked out of the kitchen and towards the living room phone on the end table next to the sofa. He quietly picked the phone up off its cradle and put it to his ear.  
  
"I can't make a word out of what the idiot's saying," Harry heard Uncle Vernon's voice grunt through the receiver. But neither could Harry. Whoever was on the other line was speaking so fast and with such nonsense that he or she sounded like a tape recorder being rewound.  
  
"Where's that boy gone to?" Uncle Vernon roared from the kitchen. "Boy! Come here at once!"  
  
Harry set the phone gently back into its cradle and headed into the kitchen, finding Uncle Vernon staring him down, his large fists balled up in anger, his face a shade of blood red. "What the devil did you do to our phone, boy?!" he roared.  
  
"I didn't do anything!" Harry said truthfully.  
  
"Don't play games with me! You've done...something...to make our phone sound all funny!"  
  
"And why would I want to do that?"  
  
"I'll be the one asking questions here! I say again, what did you do to our telephone?"  
  
"And I say again, I didn't do anything! I can't use mag-the 'm' word- during the summer! And even if I did, which I didn't, I would have been expelled by now!  
  
"From what I remember, you've already been expelled from that insane asylum!"  
  
"And from what I remember, I was cleared of all charges at my hearing! And besides, there's no reason I'd even want to jinx your phone!" And he stormed out of the kitchen, not in the least bit surprised at how much of an idiot his uncle was.  
  
***  
  
Later on in the day, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had to attend the funeral of Mr. Fairmont, a distant relative of the Dursleys who had passed away.  
  
Harry was left at home as usual. He didn't mind, having never known Mr. Fairmont. Neither did the Dursleys. Harry reckoned that they only went because Mr. Fairmont had left something to them in his will. Since Mr. Fairmont was very wealthy, the Dursleys couldn't resist going to his funeral, especially with the thought of inheriting a portion of his money.  
  
Harry was watching the television when the phone rang. The Dursleys had forbidden him from using the phone ever since he was three years old, mainly because they didn't want people to know that he existed.  
  
The phone rang once...twice...three times...and then, the answering machine switched on. "This is Vernon Dursley. I'm not here at the moment. Please leave a message after the 'beep'." BEEP. There was no message. For almost ten seconds, there was nothing. But then, from just beyond the static, Harry heard a soft, hoarse voice say, "Harry Potter...."  
  
Harry's eyes opened wide. Why would someone be calling him? He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. "Hello?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
Still no answer.  
  
"Hello?" he repeated, a bit louder.  
  
Then, the soft, hoarse voice, barely audible, said, "Don't go to Hogwarts."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't go to Hogwarts."  
  
This was really creeping Harry out. "Wh-who is this?"  
  
"Don't go to Hogwarts." And then, whoever, or whatever, was on the other line hung up.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. Back to the Burrow, Again

CHAPTER 2:  
  
BACK TO THE BURROW, AGAIN  
  
Harry placed the phone back into its cradle, thousands of questions running through his mind.  
  
An hour later, he heard the Dursleys' car pull up in the driveway. "What a complete waste of time," Uncle Vernon growled as he came through the door. "We should have at least inherited the yacht, and instead we get the stuffed jackelope! Who would want one of these things, anyway?"  
  
Harry's next morning with the Dursleys' was the same as usual. Harry was helping himself to his bowl of corn flakes, while the Dursleys ignored him intentionally. Uncle Vernon was reading the newspaper, while Dudley's head absorbed more and more gamma rays from the television.  
  
All of a sudden, there was a thud at the windowpane, and Aunt Petunia shrieked in alarm, causing all of the others in the kitchen to jump.  
  
"What?!" Uncle Vernon demanded.  
  
"Something flew into the window!" Aunt Petunia replied alarmingly.  
  
Harry got up out of his chair, hurried to the window, and opened it.  
  
Jumping excitably up and down on the windowsill was a small owl with an enveloped letter in its beak.  
  
Harry smiled ear-to-ear as he picked Pigwigeon up through the window and into the kitchen.  
  
"OWLS!!!" Uncle Vernon roared as Pig twittered energetically. "Not again!"  
  
"Oh, come on!" Harry moaned, finally losing his temper. "What's with you people? It's just an owl, not a man-eating tiger!"  
  
This, of course, didn't help a bit. The Dursleys were always paranoid of anything associated with the wizarding world. It was almost as if they were expecting a dozen wizards and witches to jump into their house through an open window, transfigure all three of them into baboons, then run off laughing into the night.  
  
So, Harry just set Pig down on the countertop as he read Ron's letter:  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
I just wanted to know if you'd like to come over to the Burrow  
for the rest of the summer. I've already asked Mum and Dad if  
you could, and they said yes! Hermione's already here. Ask the  
muggles if it's okay for you to come, and send their answer back  
to us with Pig. If they say its okay, we'll come and get you.  
If they don't, we'll see you on the train for school.  
  
Ron  
  
P.S. If the muggles say that it's okay with them, remind them  
to unblock the fireplace this time!  
  
Harry hurried over to Uncle Vernon. "Uh, Uncle Vernon," he began. "Ron Weasley, a friend of mine from Hog-from my school-wants to know if I could come over to his place for the rest of the summer. Is it okay with you?"  
  
Uncle Vernon's face turned a slight shade of green. "Ron Weasley? Isn't that the kid who's father destroyed our living room two years ago?!"  
  
"Yes, but they didn't mean to. Listen, just unblock the fireplace and they won't do any damage."  
  
"How stupid do you think I am? Not only did they demolish the living room, but they also gave our son a large, purple tongue! Then, the father attacked us!"  
  
"That large, purple tongue was only a practical joke! It couldn't do any harm! And Mr. Weasley wasn't attacking you! He was trying to help Dudley by fixing his tongue so that it wouldn't grow big enough to suffocate him! Just give him another chance!"  
  
Uncle Vernon's face turned even greener. "Well...alright...I'll...give him another chance. But if he so much as lays a finger on us, you'll be the one who'll pay!"  
  
"Fine."  
  
Harry quickly grabbed a pen and parchment and wrote:  
  
Dear Ron,  
  
They said yes!  
  
Harry  
  
He folded the parchment and gave it to Pig, who then flew back out the window and disappeared beyond the horizon.  
  
Later on, Uncle Vernon removed the boards from the back of the fireplace, as well as the electric fire.  
  
"Remember what I said earlier, boy," Uncle Vernon growled from behind the sofa. "If they so much as lay a finger on us...."  
  
"I'll be the one who'll pay," Harry finished for him. Despite his uncle's threat, Harry wasn't in the least bit worried, knowing that Mr. Weasley wouldn't after what happened last time.  
  
Suddenly, a large, green fire ignited in the fireplace, causing all three of the Dursleys to jump up in alarm. Out of the fire sprang Mr. Weasley, followed closely by Ron.  
  
"Hey, Harry!" Ron greeted.  
  
"Hey, Ron!" Harry replied.  
  
Mr. Weasley looked around the living room with the emotion of a toddler who had just entered Disneyland. He then spotted the Dursleys, who looked as if Adolf Hitler had just entered the room. "Oh, hello!" Mr. Weasley greeted them enthusiastically.  
  
The Dursleys instinctively backed up about six feet. Uncle Vernon was eyeing Mr. Weasley's right hand closely, which was residing in his robe pocket.  
  
"Good to see you again!" Mr. Weasley said cheerily, and he sprang towards the Dursleys and embraced them in an enormous group hug.  
  
Uncle Vernon was making a face that seemed to say, "get this nutter off me!"  
  
Mr. Weasley let go of them and spotted Harry. "Hello, Harry!" he greeted in his usual polite voice. "How've you been?"  
  
"Fine," Harry replied.  
  
"Er...are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah." Harry knew why Mr. Weasley had asked him this. It was because of the sudden death of his godfather, Sirius, which had been rather hard on him lately.  
  
Mr. Weasley said nothing for a moment, then said, "well...er...shall we go, Harry?"  
  
"All right."  
  
Mr. Weasley and Ron helped Harry with his luggage and Hedwig's cage, and they each went through the green flames, one by one, leaving the flabbergasted Dursleys behind.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. The Nightmare

CHAPTER 3:  
  
THE NIGHTMARE  
  
Harry felt himself spinning around inside the fireplace as hundreds of other gates of the Floo Network surrounded him. Then, he felt himself fly forwards and land on the hard floor. Looking up, he found himself in the living room of the Burrow.  
  
"We're back!" Mr. Weasley yelled as he and Ron helped Harry to his feet. "Are you all right, harry?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah," Harry said groggily. "I never did like Floo Powder."  
  
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley cried out as she entered the living room from the kitchen. "How are you, dear?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"I'm fine, thanks," Harry replied.  
  
Hermione and Ginny hurried down the staircase. "Hi, Harry," they greeted. "Er...how've you been?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Fine," he answered.  
  
"Really?" Her smile faded from her face. "Even after...you know...."  
  
"Yeah. It's taken some getting used to, but I'm fine, now. But, I'll tell you one thing. If I ever see that Lestrange woman again, I'll...I'll...."  
  
For a moment, there was silence. Then, Ron said, "Let's go up to my room."  
  
***  
  
Harry let Hedwig out of her cage and placed her on the perch adjacent to Pig's.  
  
"So," Harry began. "What have you all been up to over the summer?"  
  
"Nothing much," Ginny replied.  
  
"Yeah," Ron said. "Nothing much." But for some reason, his face, along with Hermione's, had gone slightly flushed.  
  
"What's wrong with you two?" Harry asked.  
  
"Er...it's rather hot in here, isn't it?" Hermione said quickly, fanning herself. She got up and opened the only window in the room.  
  
Ginny giggled slightly, but stopped abruptly when Ron shot a reproachful look at her.  
  
"So, how's life with the muggles been, lately?" Ron asked Harry.  
  
"Same as usual," he answered. But then he remembered the weird phone call he had gotten. "Well, mostly the same as usual," he corrected himself. "Except...." And he told them all about the phone call.  
  
"Strange," Hermione mused.  
  
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Kind of reminds you of Dobby, only creepier."  
  
***  
  
That night, as he slept, Harry began to dream. He found himself in a large room. Harry was lying on the cold, hard stone floor. It was pitch black all around him, yet the room was surprisingly familiar to Harry. He groped along the cold, slimy floor, until he felt something like an enormous chicken bone. Feeling around, he realized that he had come across a large skeleton, but of what, he didn't know. He looked over his shoulder, and saw something that made him nearly jump out of his skin. Two large, round, red eyes, as bright as automobile reflectors, and as large as basketballs, were staring back at him from out of the pitch darkness.  
  
Harry awoke with a start, and found himself back in Ron's bedroom. He was breathing heavily, his face covered in a cold sweat. He tried to think back on the details of his nightmare, but all he could remember were those big, red eyes. Just thinking about them made his stomach do a flip-flop. It had to be one of the scariest nightmares he ever had.  
  
"MEOW!" SCRATCH! SCRATCH! "MEOW!" Crookshanks was scratching at the window and mewling loudly.  
  
"Mmhh...whatscrookshanksdoinginhere?" Ron's voice mumbled from his bed. "SHUT UP, YOU STUPID CAT!" He grabbed his pillow and held it down over his head.  
  
Harry stood up and walked towards the window. "What's the matter?" he whispered to the mewling cat. He picked Crookshanks up and scratched him behind the ears. "What's wrong?" He looked out the window and into the Weasley's front lawn down below. The same two big, red eyes that he saw in his dream were looking up at him from almost eight feet above the ground. Harry's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. In his shock, he dropped Crookshanks, who gently landed on her feet and padded off out of the room. Part of Harry wanted to scream as those eyes stared back at him, but he couldn't utter a sound. Another part of him wanted to run away, but his legs wouldn't budge. All he could do was stare into those almost hypnotic eyes. He never felt this way before, as he stared into those eyes, like a combination of fear, cold, and helplessness all at the same time.  
  
Whatever the eyes belonged to, it didn't seem to be moving. It just stood there, staring up at him. But then, whatever it was zoomed up towards the window and slammed itself against it.  
  
Harry jumped back in horror as the eyes flew right up against the window, nothing separating them from Harry's face except a thin pane of glass. The large eyes filled the entire room with bright red light, and it took Harry a while to realize that he was screaming.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	4. Eyes

CHAPTER 4:  
  
EYES  
  
Harry continued to scream as the giant red eyes stared back at him when he felt someone grab his shoulder. Spinning around, he turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley staring back at him, the tips of their wands aglow.  
  
"Harry! Harry!" Mrs. Weasley was exclaiming. "Calm down! What's wrong?!"  
  
"Th-there...there's something out there!" Harry exclaimed, pointing at the window.  
  
Hermione and Ginny walked into the room as Mr. Weasley poked his head out the window.  
  
"What's going on?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Nothing, sweetie," Mrs. Weasley reassured her. "Why don't you two go back to bed?"  
  
Mr. Weasley closed the window. "I don't see anything out there."  
  
"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "How could you not see it? I think those big red eyes would be kind of hard to miss in the dark!" He looked out the window himself and saw that the creature really had disappeared.  
  
"Big red eyes?" Mrs. Weasley repeated, looking slightly alarmed, but then she said, "Oh, Harry, you must have only been dreaming."  
  
"I was not dreaming!" Harry replied.  
  
"You might have just seen some sort of animal, then," Mr. Weasley suggested.  
  
"I don't know any animal that has eyes like that!" Harry retorted.  
  
"Well, whatever it was," Mr. Weasley began. "It's gone, now."  
  
"But Mr. Weasley, what if that thing comes back? What if it gets inside the house?!"  
  
"Stop worrying, Harry," Mr. Weasley said. "That's not going to happen. Molly and I won't let that happen. All right?"  
  
Harry wanted to protest, but knew that it would do no good. So, he just nodded instead.  
  
"All right. Why don't you get back in bed."  
  
"Okay," Harry replied.  
  
"Goodnight," said Mrs. Weasley.  
  
"Night."  
  
And Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and Ginny left the room, and Ron fell back to sleep.  
  
Harry, however, stayed awake in his bed for the rest of the night.  
  
***  
  
"You don't look so good, Harry," Hermione told him at the kitchen table next morning.  
  
"I know," he replied. "I didn't fall asleep again after that incident last night." But, then again, who could blame him?  
  
"What exactly did you see?" Ron asked.  
  
"I've already told you. I saw a pair of large, red eyes the size of quaffles and as bright as fire. At first, they were just staring up at me from the lawn, but then they somehow came right up to my window."  
  
"Ashwinders have eyes like that," Ron suggested.  
  
"But their eyes aren't the size of quaffles," Hermione pointed out. "And that's not a very likely place to find an ashwinder. They're created when a magical fire has been left burning for too long. And besides, they can't just rise up to a window that high like that.  
  
"It could have been a thestral," said Ginny. "You said their eyes glow, Harry. And one could fly up to your window."  
  
"No," Harry replied. "A thestral's eyes aren't nearly as large or bright as these eyes. Besides, their eyes are white, not red."  
  
"Wait a moment," said Ron, a look of terror was upon his face. "Y-you don't think it was a basilisk, do you?!"  
  
"Of course not!" Hermione replied.  
  
"Why not?! It wouldn't exactly be hard for a fifty-foot snake to rise up to a window that high up!"  
  
"Ron, a basilisk's eyes are yellow. And besides, if a basilisk looked Harry right dead in the eye, I don't think he'd be here right now to talk about it, do you?"  
  
"No, I guess not."  
  
Harry was about to take another bite of his toast when Hermione said, "Harry...your...your eyes!"  
  
"What about them?" he asked, confused.  
  
"They're...they're...well...look at them!"  
  
Harry got up from the table and looked into a mirror on the wall.  
  
"Whoa! What did you do to your eyes, boy?" the mirror said to him.  
  
Harry looked at his reflection's eyes and gasped. The whites of his eyes, surrounding his green pupils, were now bright red, as if they had been sprayed with mace. Even the skin surrounding his eyes had been burned red, so that he now looked like some sort of giant, red-eyed insect.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	5. Diagon Alley's Newest Addition

CHAPTER 5:  
  
DIAGON ALLEY'S NEWEST ADDITION  
  
Harry removed his glasses and touched the reddened skin around his eye sockets. Surprisingly, his eyes felt no pain. They were just red. He ran over to Mrs. Weasley. "Mrs. Weasley," he said to get her attention.  
  
"Yes, Harry?" she answered, turning to him.  
  
"Do you know what's wrong with my eyes?"  
  
Mrs. Weasley looked into Harry's eyes and gasped. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "Harry, what happened to them?" She removed his glasses and pulled him over to the sink. "Hurry! Rinse your eyes out, quick!" she ordered as she turned the faucet on.  
  
Harry did as she told, placing his hands under the running water and gently soaking his eyes with it.  
  
"Oh, dear," Mrs. Weasley lamented. "What did you get in your eyes, Harry? It's lucky you told me about them when you noticed how red they are, or you would have probably gone blind! They must burn like hell, don't they, Harry?"  
  
"Actually, no," Harry replied as he dried his face with a towel. "Not in the least." He looked in the mirror and noticed that his eyes remained bright red. "And nothing got in my eyes, Mrs. Weasley."  
  
"Oh, well, maybe their just red from your lack of sleep."  
  
Harry seriously doubted this. He didn't think that lack of sleep could ever do something like this to someone's eyes. Deep down, he felt that this had something to do with that creature he saw last night.  
  
There was a thud as Errol missed the open window and collided into the windowpane, several letters tied to his leg.  
  
"Letters from school," Mrs. Weasley announced as she pulled the unconscious owl in through the window. She untied the letters and handed them to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.  
  
Harry read the list of books he would need for this year, which contained two new ones, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6, by Miranda Goshawk, and The Revised Addition of the Monster Book of Monsters.  
  
"I think these are our O.W.L.s." Ron said, brandishing three letters. He passed Harry and Hermione theirs.  
  
Harry tore open the envelope, pulled out the parchment, and unfolded it. Scrolling down his subjects, he was surprised to see that he had passed them all, and by the relieved looks on Ron and Hermione's faces, they had to.  
  
"Didn't expect that," Ron said out loud, a look of satisfaction on his face.  
  
"Okay, listen up, everyone," Mrs. Weasley began. "I have to go do something for the Order...." "And what, exactly?" Ron interrupted.  
  
"Do you actually think I'm going to tell you?! As I was saying, I have to go do something for the Order, but before I go, I'm going to drop you all off at Diagon Alley so you can pick up your school supplies. All right?"  
  
They all nodded their heads, then made their way into the living room.  
  
"Okay," said Mrs. Weasley. "I'll be back around noon. Do try to get back before I do. You know how much I worry." She took a handful of Floo Powder from the flowerpot, threw it into the fireplace, and an emerald- green flame ignited in it.  
  
Harry said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley, stepped into the fire after Ron, and said "Diagon Alley," very clearly (not wanting to end up somewhere else, such as the moon, instead). He began to spin around inside the fireplace, and when he finally stopped, he found himself in a shop in Diagon Alley, not far from Gringotts. Ron was already there. Once Hermione and Ginny had clambered out of the fireplace, they made their way inside the wizard bank to obtain their money.  
  
***  
  
"Hogwarts?" the manager asked as they walked into Flourish and Blotts. Once again, his fingers were bandaged.  
  
"Yes," Harry replied.  
  
"Well, what'll it be?"  
  
"Three copies of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6, one copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, and three copies of The Revised Addition of the Monster Book of Monsters."  
  
"Of...of course," the manager said, whimpering. He slowly moved towards a familiar cage containing books even wilder than the previous ones. Cautiously, he opened the cage, reached a bandaged hand into it, and all the books leaped out at once and attacked the manager like a swarm of ants on a helpless grasshopper. "Aaah!" he screamed. "Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me!"  
  
Harry made to grab a book that scurried by, but it turned to face him, opened up, and breathed fire at his face, nearly singeing his eyebrows. Something then whizzed past Harry's face. Looking up, he saw that some of the books were throwing poop at him!  
  
"Argh!" Another book had just spit a gooey substance all over Ron, literally gluing him to the wall.  
  
The chaos continued for over half an hour until Hermione returned all the books back to their cage, one by one, with multiple summoning charms.  
  
After finally ungluing Ron from the wall, they all paid the unconscious manager and walked out of the bookstore with their needed books, the monster books bounded tightly shut with leather straps.  
  
***  
  
"No way," Harry breathed in amazement as he looked across the cobblestone path. Standing in front of him was a new store with an overhanging, brightly colored sign bearing the store's name: Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.  
  
"Can't believe it, myself," Ron admitted. "You should have seen the look on Mum's face when she found out that Fred and George left Hogwarts early to start on this place! And then you should it when she realized how much of a profit they were making!"  
  
Harry entered the joke shop and found that it was packed with kids from his school.  
  
"Nice of you to drop by," a deep voice said from Harry's right.  
  
"Yeah, we've been wondering when you'd turn up."  
  
It was Fred and George Weasley, wearing their expensive dragon-skin cloaks, their faces looking as boyish and mischievous as always.  
  
"Hey, guys!" Harry greeted. He looked around the packed shop. "Er...how's business?"  
  
"Oh, we're on the verge of a second Great Depression," George replied sarcastically. "Business is booming, of course!"  
  
"I hear that old toad, Umbridge, is finally gone," said Fred.  
  
"Yeah," Ron replied with a satisfactory look on his face. "And it's a shame you missed her grand exit, being chased from the grounds by Peeves with McGonagall's walking stick."  
  
The twins laughed gleefully.  
  
"Some of your Portable Swamp's still left over," Ginny informed them with a giggle. "Probably in your honor."  
  
"Hey, Harry," Fred began. "What happened to your eyes?"  
  
George noticed Harry's reddened eyes as well. "It looks like you ate a dozen of our Pinkeye Pellets."  
  
"I know," Harry replied. "I think it had something to do with that creature I saw last night."  
  
"Hey," a small boy gestured to the twins. "How much for the Flatulence Flakes?"  
  
"Two sickles," said George.  
  
"Creature?" Fred repeated. "What creature?"  
  
And Harry told them all about the red-eyed phantom creature he encountered that night.  
  
"Scary," George remarked.  
  
"Yeah," Fred agreed. "Almost as scary as Mum when you cross her."  
  
"Hey, Harry," said Hermione, looking at her watch. "It's almost noon. We'd better be heading back."  
  
"Oh, okay," he replied. "Hey, good luck with the store, you two," Harry said to the twins.  
  
"Thanks, but we don't really need it," George answered. "At the rate we're going, we could end up as good as Zonko's by next year!"  
  
"Say 'hi' to Mum for us," said Fred.  
  
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny then headed towards the Weasley twins' fireplace and took the Floo Network back to the Burrow.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Hogwarts Express

CHAPTER 6:  
  
HOGWARTS EXPRESS  
  
The rest of Harry's summer at the Burrow was quite uneventful. By the end of August, his eyes had lost almost all of their redness, and he was thankful that he wouldn't have to board the train with a paper bag over his head. Before he knew it, the first day of September had come, and he, along with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, were aboard the Hogwarts Express.  
  
Harry and Ginny were in their usual compartment while Ron and Hermione were in the prefect carriage.  
  
A few moments later, Neville Longbottom opened the compartment door, one hand clutching Trevor, his toad, as usual. "Hi, guys," he greeted.  
  
"Hey, Neville," Harry replied.  
  
"Is this seat taken?" Neville asked.  
  
"No, you can sit here."  
  
"Thanks," Neville said, and he sat down next to Harry.  
  
"How's your plant doing?" Harry asked.  
  
"The Mimbulus mimbletonia? Oh, it's doing great!"  
  
"Hang on. You mean that's not your only plant?"  
  
"Oh, heck no! I've got my own personal greenhouse in my backyard. My great-uncle Algie built it for me when he saw my O.W.L.s. I have about a hundred different plant species in it right now, but I'm gradually getting more. A few days ago, Uncle Algie got me a new one, a Rafflesia arnoldi, from Southeast Asia! It's a big red flower, the largest known, so far. The blossom's able to grow up to three feet in diameter!"  
  
"Oh, my Mum would love to grow something like that," said Ginny. "It sounds really pretty."  
  
"It is," said Neville. "But I doubt your Mum would want it after she takes a whiff of it. It gives off a fragrance like rotten meat. That's part of the reason I didn't bring it to school with me."  
  
The compartment door opened again. Luna Lovegood was standing in the doorway, holding the newest issue of The Quibbler. "Hi," she said in her usual vagueness.  
  
"Hey, Luna," Ginny greeted.  
  
She sat down, opened her magazine, and said nothing more.  
  
The compartment door opened once more, and Ron and Hermione entered and sat down, their prefect badges pinned onto their robes.  
  
"What's up?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well," Ron began. "Malfoy is still acting like the backside of a hippogriff."  
  
"Big surprise," said Hermione.  
  
"Why do you let him get to you?" asked Luna, looking up from her magazine. "You're almost twice his size."  
  
"I know, but he's driving me crazy! How would you like it if he started following you around like your shadow, just to throw snide remarks behind your back?"  
  
Harry looked out the window, watching the hills and forests as the train sped onwards.  
  
Suddenly, a large dark shape zoomed past the window.  
  
"Did you guys just see that?" he asked.  
  
"See what?" said Neville.  
  
"I just saw something fly by the window. Something big."  
  
"What did it look like?" asked Hermione.  
  
"I don't know. It just looked like a blur, it was going so fast."  
  
In a few minutes, however, Harry was drawn back into a conversation with the others and had completely forgotten about what he had just seen. That is, until after the sun went down.  
  
Harry looked back out the window. The moonlight, mixed with the darkness of the night, made the otherwise beautiful hills and forests look eerie and forbidding. For a few moments, he just watched them go by.  
  
All of a sudden, the same thing that he saw fly by the window earlier swooped down again. But this time, it didn't just zoom by. To Harry's disbelief, it was flying alongside the window. This isn't possible, he told himself silently. Not very many things can fly fast enough to keep up with a train!  
  
In the darkness, he could only see its silhouette against the moonlight, like some sort of flying shadow. But, he could tell that the creature's body was about eight feet long and covered in either hair or feathers. It had two large wings, and a wingspan of about ten feet.  
  
The creature then turned towards Harry, and he saw those familiar big red eyes staring back at him. The creature didn't seem to have a head. Instead, the eyes were located near its shoulder area.  
  
"Guys, look!" he cried to the others. "Look out the window!"  
  
But the creature swooped upwards before any of the others could turn their heads.  
  
"What?" Ron asked.  
  
"You remember that...thing...I saw that night at your house?"  
  
Ron nodded his head.  
  
"I just saw it flying beside the window."  
  
"What do you mean, thing?" Neville asked, Luna also looking interested.  
  
Harry told them about the creature he saw during his stay at the Burrow.  
  
Neville gave a slight whimper. "And...and you just saw it again, out this window?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
There was a loud THUD from above, and the light hanging from the ceiling swung back and forth.  
  
They all looked up at the sound to see that the ceiling was slightly bent inwards in one spot.  
  
"Guys," Harry began, his voice quivering slightly. "I...I think...it's on...the roof."  
  
"But, how could it be standing on top of a speeding train?" Hermione questioned.  
  
"Shh!" Harry hissed. He heard another sound from the roof.  
  
SSCCRRAATTCCHH-THUD-CLICK. SSCCRRAATTCCHH-THUD-CLICK. SSCCRRAATTCCHH-THUD- CLICK.  
  
It sounded like clawed feet shuffling towards the front of the train.  
  
"I don't like this," Neville whimpered. "I really don't like this."  
  
"We've got to warn everyone!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
"And how do you expect us to do that?" Hermione asked. "Oh, hello, Professor Such-and-Such. When do you expect we'll be reaching the school? Oh, by the way, there's some sort of frightening creature on the roof. Would it be too much trouble to climb up there and take care of it?"  
  
"Well, we can't just let it find a way inside!" Ron argued.  
  
"Ron, we don't even know if this creature's dangerous. And, even if it is, it couldn't possibly get inside." But then, she gulped a large gulp, nervously. "Could it?"  
  
Harry didn't want to think about it. Seeing one or more of his fellow D.A. members' (who were all his friends) partially eaten bodies would probably drive him insane.  
  
There's no need to say that the remainder of the trip to Hogwarts was incredibly nerve-racking. Occasionally, they would all jump at small noises, or make for their wands whenever they saw someone move past their compartment door.  
  
When they finally reached Hogsmeade Station, Harry rushed off the train and looked up at the roof.  
  
"What is it, Harry?!" Ron asked as he jumped out of the train as well.  
  
Harry looked down the entire length of the train's roof for those chilling red eyes, again and again.  
  
"N-nothing," he answered, a confused look on his face.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	7. The Sixth Year Begins

CHAPTER 7:  
  
THE SIXTH YEAR BEGINS  
  
Harry looked up and down the length of the train. The creature couldn't have just disappeared, could it?  
  
"All righ', Harry?" Hagrid's voice called from behind him. "Ya look a littl' sick."  
  
"Hi, Hagrid," said Harry, spinning around. "I'm fine. Hagrid, you didn't happen to see this, uh, thing on the train's roof, have you?" He had a feeling that whatever this 'thing' was had something to do with Hagrid.  
  
"Thing?" Hagrid repeated. "Uh, sorry, Harry. Don' seem ter know what yer talkin' abou', there."  
  
"Really? You don't have any creatures with you lately?"  
  
"Course, I do. I am the Care o' Magical Creatures Professor, after all."  
  
"Anything with big red eyes?"  
  
Hagrid thought for a moment. "Unless yer talkin' 'bout Fang, then no. 'Fraid not, Harry."  
  
"What do you mean? What happened to him?"  
  
"Gotta face full o' skunk musk earlier today. Poor bloke's always stickin' his nose in places it doesn' belong."  
  
"Hey, Harry!" Ron's voice called. "You coming, or not?"  
  
"Yeah, in a minute," Harry called back. He then said goodbye to Hagrid and followed Ron and Hermione into the thestral-drawn carriages, which carried them up to the castle of Hogwarts, where the start-of-term feast was being held.  
  
***  
  
Harry awoke in his four-poster the next morning and headed down into the Great Hall for breakfast. Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, he picked up his schedule and opened it. To his dismay, he still had Potions and Divination.  
  
Ron was struggling with his new Monster book. "Why would they even bother to make a revised addition of this book?" Ron groaned in frustration.  
  
"Well, new magical creatures are being discovered all the time, aren't they?" Hermione informed him. "I've already begun reading it. Some of the newest creatures are rather interesting."  
  
"Really?" said Harry. "Name a few of them."  
  
Hermione gently stroked the spine of her book, causing it to fall open harmlessly. She leafed through the pages until she came to one creature that she liked. "Here's one.  
  
PERYTON  
XXXXX  
Occasionally seen flying above the Mediterranean Sea, the peryton has  
the body of a stag, is covered in feathers, and sports two large wings  
on its back. Although graceful at first glance, the peryton is  
strictly carnivorous and highly dangerous. It has many long, sharp  
teeth and, oddly, casts the shadow of a man until it kills its first  
human victim. For some strange reason, after that first kill, it will  
never harm another human in its lifetime."  
  
"Weird," Ron remarked. "You'd think it would keep killing humans after that first taste of blood."  
  
The bell rang and Harry hurried towards his first class.  
  
***  
  
Later on, Hagrid had asked Harry if he could come over for tea.  
  
"How's yer firs' day back been?" Hagrid asked.  
  
"Not too bad," Harry replied. He spotted a large cage on Hagrid's table, covered with a cloth. Knowing that Hagrid was usually interested in creatures that other people thought of as monsters, Harry began to get slightly nervous. "Hagrid, what's in that cage over there?"  
  
"Well, I really shouldn', but what could it hurt?" He stood up, walked over to the cage, and removed the cloth.  
  
Harry saw a bunch of lights flying around the cage like fireflies. "Um, Hagrid, are those pixies?"  
  
"Pixies? Oh, no, Harry. I wouldn' bring pixies ter school after what happened durin' yer second year. No, these are one o' them new creatures. Cucuios. May look like large fireflies, bu' their actually small birds tha' can produce their own light. Found on'y in the West Indies."  
  
"Are they, um, dangerous?"  
  
"No, 'course not." He opened the cage and gently grabbed one of the cucuios with his enormous hand. Walking over to Harry, he opened his hand and let the tiny bird jump into Harry's.  
  
It looked just like a small, black bird, except for the firefly-like pustule on its backside.  
  
They continued to talk about Hagrid's newest creatures until Hermione said, "It's getting pretty late. We'd better head back up to the castle."  
  
Harry looked out the window. The sun had just sunk behind the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. "Yeah, alright," he replied. "See you tomorrow, Hagrid."  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione crept quickly across the school grounds towards the castle, since Harry didn't bring his invisibility cloak with him. They were halfway across the grounds when Harry heard a sound that chilled him to the bone. He had never heard anything like it before, but it sounded like a cross between metal scratching metal and a woman screaming. And it was coming from the other side of the grounds. "Did you guys here that?" he whispered.  
  
Ron and Hermione nodded their heads, their faces pale.  
  
Looking ahead towards the source of the sound, he saw those telltale red eyes looking at him in the distance. "Guys," he said in a hoarse whisper. "I-I don't think we're alone out here!"  
  
"Should we risk running?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide in terror.  
  
"I don't think I can run," Harry replied. "I-I feel like I've been paralyzed."  
  
Like before, the creature just stood there, its enormous, red eyes staring at them without the slightest bit of expression. Even at that distance, the eyes still appeared huge. Then, without warning, the creature sped towards them.  
  
All Harry could do was watch as the creature glided towards them, shooting across the grounds at a tremendous pace. Its enormous wings were unfolded, but they didn't seem to be flapping.  
  
The creature stopped abruptly just in front of them. This was the first time that Harry got a good look at the thing. It was about 7 feet tall, with the body like that of a human torso covered in black hair or feathers, he couldn't tell which. Two large, bat-like wings were spread out from its back, and it stood on two short legs. And let's not forget those eyes. There didn't seem to be a mouth or nose, but it did have those big, red, quaffle-sized eyes that Harry now dreaded so much.  
  
"That's one hell of a fairy!" Ron commented, gazing up at the bizarre, frightening monster standing before him.  
  
"Run!" Harry shouted, and he sprinted towards the castle at top speed, Ron and Hermione at his sides. He could hear the creature shuffling along behind him. He ran up the stone steps towards the great oak doors, skipping three stairs at a time. He reached out and grabbed the bronze doorknob, turned, and pushed it open. Ron and Hermione sprinted in after him, and he closed the door with a bang, shutting the creature outside. He then slumped to the stone floor with his back against the door, clutching the stitch in his chest.  
  
"What...was...that?!!" Ron wheezed heavily.  
  
"I...don't...know," Hermione breathed. "But, whatever it is, it can't get inside."  
  
SSSCCCRRRAAATTTCCCHHH-THUD-CLICK. SSSCCCRRRAAATTTCCCHHH-THUD-CLICK. SSSCCCRRRAAATTTCCCHHH-THUD-CLICK.  
  
"What's that?" Harry asked, but he knew too well what it was. He looked towards the end of the dark hall and saw those red eyes coming towards him.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	8. A Short Rest

CHAPTER 8:  
  
A SHORT REST  
  
Harry backed himself harder against the oak door as the creature's ghastly eyes slowly crept closer, and closer. As he stared into those eyes, his very blood grew cold. He wanted to grab his wand. He wanted to blow the creature back into the depths of Hell where it came from. He didn't care if he used an Unforgivable Curse, as long as he killed the damned thing. And he would have, if his hands weren't numb with fear. But he just stood rooted to the ground as the creature came closer, and closer. He could hear Ron and Hermione whimpering helplessly on either side of him. Suddenly, everything grew blurry, then dark, and he remembered nothing more.  
  
***  
  
Harry soon found himself lying in a bed in the hospital wing. He raised his head off the pillow, found his glasses on the bedside table, and put them on. Ron and Hermione were both in beds to his right.  
  
"Have a nice nap, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore's voice asked from his beside.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry replied groggily. "Wh-what happened?"  
  
"Mr. Filch found you and your friends unconscious near the great oak doors," he explained with a slight smile. "Do you remember what happened earlier tonight? Anything at all?"  
  
Harry thought back. "All I really remember is a pair of large red eyes coming down the hallway, towards us. Professor Dumbledore, I've been seeing this thing ever since summer. You must know what it is, right? You've always had the answer before."  
  
"How flattering! What does this 'thing', as you call it, look like?"  
  
"I doubt you'll believe me."  
  
"Remember, Harry, this is the Wizarding World. What is there not to believe here?"  
  
"I guess you're right. Well, I've never really gotten a good look at it. It was always lurking in the dark, see? Anyway, it's about seven feet tall, and it looks like a human torso, covered in black feathers, with big wings sprouting out of its back, and it has a pair of big, red eyes that glow like fire. Oh, and it makes a sound like a woman screeming."  
  
Dumbledore's smile vanished from his usually cheerful face. "Where did you see this, Harry?" he asked in his most serious voice.  
  
"Actually, it's been following me around for some time, but I first saw it at the Weasleys' house."  
  
"So, it begins...." he muttered, looking out the window.  
  
"Wh-what begins?" Harry asked, feeling nervous.  
  
Dumbledore's smile reappeared. "Never you mind, Harry. I advise that you and your friends get some rest. You may leave the hospital wing in the morning."  
  
"Yes, Professor." Harry then laid his head back onto his pillow as Professor Dumbledore walked out of the room. But he couldn't sleep. His mind was filled with too many questions. What did Dumbledore mean by, 'so, it begins....?'" Why was this creature following him around? There are hundreds of people in this school. Why him? But the question that seemed to haunt his mind the most was, what did it want?  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	9. More Strange Occurances

CHAPTER 9:  
  
MORE STRANGE OCCURANCES  
  
The next two months went quite uneventful. There were no more sightings of the creature ever since that night on the school grounds. Instead, other strange phenomena took place.  
  
Harry could have sworn that he heard the creature's scream-like cry whenever he was alone on the school grounds.  
  
One Friday in early October, Harry was attending a Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid had shown them even more of the newly discovered magical creatures, one of them being the caladrius, a swanlike bird capable of healing a sick person just by being in the patient's presence, and found throughout the European Continent. Today, Harry stood among the Gryffindors and Slytherins for his next Care of Magical Creatures lesson.  
  
In a few moments, Hagrid emerged from behind his hut. "Alrigh'," he called to the students. "Follow me back here. He's ready fer ye!"  
  
Harry marched along with the other students around Hagrid's hut. However, there wasn't anything back there, except for Hagrid's garden.  
  
"Well, where is it?" Malfoy demanded impatiently.  
  
"Righ' in front o' ye," Hagrid replied, pointing to the garden.  
  
There, in the garden, was a large plant, about three feet high. At the top of the plant's thick, green stalk, there was a large, red-orange, closed-up flower the size of a melon.  
  
"A plant?" Malfoy exasperated. "We wasted our time coming to a Care of Magical Creatures lesson to see...a plant?"  
  
"Well, yer half righ', there," Hagrid explained. "Jus' wait a few momen's. Any minute, now."  
  
They all watched the plant closely, not knowing what to expect.  
  
Soon, a light sprinkle began to fall from the cloudy sky.  
  
"Ah, righ' on time," Hagrid announced. "Those augureys never lie, do they?"  
  
Half a minute later, the rain stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the rain cloud.  
  
Suddenly, after a minute or two of waiting, the plant began to shake slightly, as if something was inside it, yearning to come out. And then, to everyone's surprise, the plant's flower blossomed and sprang open to reveal a soft, wet, fluffy center, almost like the cotton of a cotton plant. Then, there was a chorus of disgusted groans from the students as the center slowly rolled slimily out of the flower and plopped to the ground.  
  
Harry stared at the shapeless, slimy, cotton ball the plant had produced, and he noticed that it was breathing. Then, it stretched out four hoofed legs and stood itself up shakily. Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had just witnessed a newborn lamb emerge from the inside of a flower. All he could do was watch as the lamb trotted around and grazed in the dew-covered grass, baaing softly as it looked up at the students' faces in curiosity. An umbilical cord stretched from the center of the flower to the lamb's navel, limiting its range of motion.  
  
"Righ'," Hagrid began. "Now, can anyone 'ere tell me wha' this is?"  
  
As always, Hermione was the first to raise her hand. "It's a vegetable lamb."  
  
"Righ', ye are, Hermione. Now, vegetable lambs are native ter China, where their bones are collected fer a cert'n practice o' divination, in which they're carved inter what are known as oracle bones. Durin' oracle bone readin'...."  
  
Harry soon found Hagrid's lesson to be quite hard to listen to, but not because it was boring. Far from it, he actually found this vegetable lamb to be rather interesting. What really dragged him out of the lesson was the small red light hovering far above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.  
  
***  
  
The next day, during breakfast in the Great Hall, the mail owls swooped through the open window, each carrying letters and packages to the students, when a large eagle owl plopped down into Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's breakfasts. A letter was tied to its leg.  
  
Harry untied the letter to see that it was addressed to him, Ron, and Hermione. "Hey, guys," he began. "This is for all three of us."  
  
"That's weird," Hermione noted.  
  
"Open it, Harry," Ron urged him.  
  
Harry tore the envelope open, pulled out the folded parchment within, unfolded it, and read it aloud.  
  
WE KNOW WHAT YOU SAW AND WE ARE NOT HAPPY!!! KEEP YOUR MOUTHS  
SHUT OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!!!!!  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	10. Even More Strange Occurances

CHAPTER 10:  
  
EVEN MORE STRANGE OCCURANCES  
  
"Face the consequences?" Ron repeated nervously. "What kind of consequences?"  
  
"Apparently, the kind so foul that whoever sent this couldn't even mention it," Hermione suggested. "Who sent this, anyway?"  
  
Harry looked below the threatening message to see that it wasn't signed. "Well, whoever sent this, they can't just tell us what to do, can they?" But Harry gulped nervously when he remembered that he had told Dumbledore about the creature two months earlier. Still, the people who sent the letter couldn't possibly know that he told Dumbledore, could they?  
  
***  
  
Harry walked across the grounds to his next Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Today, they were to learn more about the vegetable lamb. However, when they reached Hagrid's hut, Hagrid seemed rather disturbed about something.  
  
"Uh, sorry, kids. But i' looks like we won' be havin' that vegetable lamb lesson af'er all."  
  
"Why?" Harry asked.  
  
"Uh...'cause it's...well...'cause...it's...dead."  
  
"What?!" Parvati and Lavender squealed, covering their open mouths with their hands. They had grown to be quite fond of the tiny animal.  
  
"Yea'" Hagrid replied. "Guess, without the lamb, we don' really have a lesson, do we?"  
  
As the rest of the students chatted during their unexpected free period, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to talk to Hagrid.  
  
"Hagrid, what happened?" Hermione asked.  
  
"To tell the truth, I'm not so sure meself," Hagrid replied.  
  
"But, newborn lambs don't just drop dead, do they?" Ron asked.  
  
"Not unless they're born with some sort of problem," Hermione informed him.  
  
"What sort of problems?" Harry asked.  
  
"You know, the usual," Hermione answered. "Birth disorders, deformities, miscarriages, nutritional deficiencies, STDs. My uncle owns a sheep ranch, and he says that those things do happen, once in a while."  
  
But Hagrid raised his hand in denial. "I've checked the lamb yesterday, an' it was perfectly healthy. Besides, this is no ordinary lamb."  
  
"Is it still back there?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Yea'. I was jus' abou' ter go bury it, though."  
  
"Well, may we see it, first?"  
  
"Don' see why not. Follow me."  
  
They followed Hagrid to the garden, where the large plant still stood. However, the umbilical cord had been severed, and the lamb was nowhere in sight.  
  
"Where is it?" Harry asked.  
  
Hagrid pointed to a little white shape not too far from the garden. "O'er there. Mind ye don' touch it, though. Could 'ave some sort o' disease."  
  
"That lamb wouldn't snap its own umbilical cord," Hermione explained as they walked over to the dead lamb.  
  
"Why not?" Ron asked. "Baby animals are supposed to do that, aren't they?"  
  
"Not vegetable lambs. They don't separate themselves from their plants until they're a year old. I've read all about them."  
  
"We know, Hermione. Oh, my God!"  
  
They were now looking down at the tiny lamb's body. There was not a drop of blood on the ground. However, the lamb's chest had been chewed completely open, its internal organs sticking out. Flies buzzed around the tiny animal, and a putrid smell filled the three students' nostrils.  
  
"Oh, God," Ron said again. "I'm think I'm gonna throw up!" He ran back to Hagrid's hut and vomited in a corner of the garden.  
  
"You're the sheep expert among us, Hermione," Harry stated. "What do make of this?"  
  
"Well, this was obviously done by some sort of animal. And, look here."  
  
"Do I have to?"  
  
Hermione glared playfully at him. "You're not wussing out on me, now, are you?"  
  
"No, it's just not everyday that someone looks at a mutilated body." He slowly turned his head towards the poor animal. "Okay, what am I looking at?"  
  
"Look," Hermione began, pointing to the torn carcass. "The heart and half the liver are missing, and chunks have been taken out of the intestines. Whatever killed this lamb has only been eating the organs. Very little of the meat itself has been eaten."  
  
"So, what do you think did this?"  
  
"Well, it could be a fox, but then the neck would be broken, which it isn't. It could also be a lone wolf, but it would eat the entire lamb. Looks like I'm at a loss, here."  
  
***  
  
Later on, during Potions, Snape's lesson about how shark teeth could be used to detect poisons was interrupted by a knock at the classroom door.  
  
"Come in," Snape exhaled in an irritable fashion.  
  
The door swung open and a tall, pale man entered. He wore a black robe over a white shirt, and a black tie hung from his neck. He had sleek, black hair, almost like Snape's, except shorter, and he wore dark sunglasses, impenetrable to one's eye. In his hand was a lighted cigarette.  
  
"Sir, smoking is prohibited in this school," Snape informed the man.  
  
He paid no attention to Snape's statement, and tapped his finger on the cigarette's tip, sprinkling ashes on the stone floor. "Potter, Weasley, and Granger, please," he said, in an almost robotic tone.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood up and followed the man out of the classroom. Harry felt uneasy about the strange man. There seemed to be something not quite human about him.  
  
The man closed the classroom door behind them, turned around, and faced the three students. "We've warned you," he began, in the same expressionless tone.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. But he knew perfectly well what the man meant.  
  
"We've warned you not to tell anyone about what you've seen that night on the school grounds."  
  
"But, we didn't...." Hermione began, but the man cut her off.  
  
"He did," he replied, pointing to Harry.  
  
Harry stared into the man's cold, pale, expressionless face. Even with those sunglasses on, he could still feel the man's eyes fixing upon him.  
  
"I'll let you off, this time," the man said. "However, this is your last chance. Tell anyone else, and you and your friends will suffer dearly." He raised the cigarette to his mouth, sucked in, and exhaled, blowing smoke into the three students' faces.  
  
Harry coughed as the sickly fumes entered his lungs.  
  
"I'll leave you with one last thing in mind," the man said, bending down close to their faces. "You...didn't...see...anything," he said slowly. "Do...you...understand?"  
  
Harry stared into those dark sunglasses. Then, he said, "Why? Why shouldn't I tell anyone?"  
  
"You...didn't...see...anything. Do...you...understand?" the man repeated.  
  
"No. I don't understand. Anything."  
  
The man only stared back at him. Then simply said, "You will...if you know what's good for you." Then, he turned around, and walked back down the hallway.  
  
Harry opened the classroom door, when the man called back, "And, don't try anything behind our backs...because we'll know. We always know."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	11. Lions and Eagles

CHAPTER 11:  
  
LIONS AND EAGLES  
  
"It just doesn't make any sense," Hermione said at breakfast the next morning. "Who was that man, and how did he get inside the school?"  
  
"He could have just walked in," Ron suggested.  
  
"You can't just walk into the school. There are too many spells on it."  
  
"Well, couldn't the spells have just worn off?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, they're renewed every six months, and these spells can last up to a year without being renewed," Hermione informed him. "I've read about it in...."  
  
"We know," Ron interrupted. "Hogwarts, A History."  
  
"No. The History of Hogwarts."  
  
***  
  
Before Harry realized it, November had arrived, and the first quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, was about to begin.  
  
When Umbridge fled the school at the end of Harry's fifth year, his ban from quidditch went with her.  
  
And so, here he was, walking out of the changing room with his fellow teammates, his Firebolt slung across his shoulder once again.  
  
They marched towards the center of the field, the Ravenclaw team already there. Then, on Madam Hooch's whistle, they kicked off the ground and up into the air.  
  
Harry rose up high above the pitch, gazing down for the golden snitch, like a hawk searching for a tasty, but hard-to-get, hummingbird.  
  
Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, was not far away from him, doing the same thing.  
  
Down below him, Harry could see that Ginny was clutching the quaffle in her hand, and was headed towards the Ravenclaw goal posts. But when she reached them, Ravenclaw's keeper blocked her throw.  
  
Now the Ravenclaws had the quaffle, and were speeding towards Ron, the Gryffindor keeper, at the other end of the pitch. Fortunately, he caught the quaffle just in time.  
  
The Gryffindor chasers had the quaffle once again, but one of the Ravenclaws stole it and got it past Ron's flailing arms. But when the quaffle was in the Gryffindors' possession again, they scored their first goal, paying for the Ravenclaws' offense.  
  
Harry finally caught a glimpse of a golden light flitting around down in the pitch, and dove down towards it, Cho following.  
  
But then, the two seekers suddenly stopped in their tracks when they realized what the snitch was doing. It was flying alongside a speeding bludger, almost as if for protection. If either Harry or Cho tried to go for the snitch then and there, the bludger would beat them to a pulp!  
  
"I think this is going to hurt," Harry said to himself. He thought that Cho must have heard him, for she then gulped nervously. After a few seconds of watching the snitch dance tauntingly around its bodyguard, Harry finally decided that he had best get this over with. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the thought of constant and intense pain out of his mind, and dove down towards the golden snitch, Cho following close behind.  
  
The two seekers dove down closer and closer to the tiny, golden ball, all the while keeping a wary eye on the bludger. Harry stretched out his arm for the snitch as Cho moved in right next to him, stretching her hand out in the same manner.  
  
Harry was only a few inches away from the snitch when the bludger attacked. It lunged towards the seekers, forcing them to draw back away from the snitch.  
  
Cautiously, they approached the snitch a second time, but the bludger chased them away, yet again. The seekers tried again a third time, and the bludger swiped at them viciously.  
  
This time, Harry wasn't fast enough, and the bludger nailed him straight into his side, knocking the wind out of him. But still, he managed to hold on, despite the heavy blow.  
  
The bludger then came for him again, but Harry dodged it with a quick barrel roll. He turned around to see Cho dive for the snitch so quickly, that Harry didn't have time to react.  
  
But before she could lay a finger on the tiny ball, the bludger swung with a nasty crack against her right temple. Miraculously, she also remained on her broom, but a trickle of blood now ran down one side of her face.  
  
It was now or never. As Cho struggled to regain her senses, Harry dove for the snitch. He stretched out his arm, spread out his fingers, and wrapped them around the golden covering of the winged ball. But then, he looked up too late to see the bludger heading straight for his face, and all Harry could do was say, "oh, crap," before the bludger hit him squarely between his eyes, and he was swallowed up by darkness and silence.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	12. Two Seekers

CHAPTER 12:  
  
TWO SEEKERS  
  
"Harry! Harry, you okay? Say something, already!"  
  
Harry slowly opened his eyes, and the faces of his teammates and Professor McGonagall blurred into vision. He was lying on a bench in the changing room.  
  
"You alright, mate?" Ron asked, looking down at him.  
  
"I-I think so," Harry muttered. "What happened?"  
  
"A bludger hit you right dead in the face," Ginny answered. "Broke your glasses, and everything. Oh, don't worry, we fixed them." She handed Harry his glasses. "How do you feel?"  
  
"Like a bludger just slammed itself into my face, what do you think?" Harry replied, jokingly.  
  
"You should be thankful that your father gave you his hard head, Potter," Professor McGonagall commented.  
  
***  
  
A little while later, Harry headed out of the changing room, and spotted Cho on the other side of the pitch.  
  
She was up on her broomstick, and was practicing catching the snitch, continuously snatching it out of the air, releasing it, and snatching it again.  
  
As Harry watched her practice, he began to remember his last year at Hogwarts, in which he and Cho got to know each other a little better. He then remembered their first date, and how Cho began to cry for Cedric every time she talked about him, and how Harry couldn't see why Cho would want to talk about Cedric when it made her cry like that.  
  
But then, Sirius died, and Harry finally knew how Cho felt. And then he remembered when, after much persuasion, he talked to Dumbledore about Sirius's death, and how much better he felt afterwards, as if a heavy burden had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders.  
  
"Hey, Harry! You coming?" Ron called from behind him.  
  
"No, you go ahead," he replied, and he then felt himself mounting onto his Firebolt and sailing towards his rival seeker. He wished that he didn't have a giant bruise in the middle of his forehead, at that moment. But, he was slightly comforted when he saw a large bandage on the side of Cho's usually perfect face. The bludger hadn't been too easy on her, either.  
  
"Hey, Cho," he called out, a few feet next to her.  
  
Cho gasped and clutched onto her broom, as if she almost fell off. "Oh, hi, Harry!" she replied, turning to face him.  
  
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Harry said, apologetically.  
  
"Oh, don't worry. You didn't," she assured him, and, for some reason, she started blushing.  
  
"Uh, how've you been?" Harry asked.  
  
"Alright. You?"  
  
"Fine. Can't complain. How's your head?" he asked, eyeing the bandage.  
  
"It's not too bad," she replied. "I've had worse."  
  
"Yeah, me too," said Harry. He looked at Cho, and their eyes met for a moment. It was then that Harry realized that he still felt something for Cho. It didn't seem so at the end of his fifth year of school, but that was probably because of Sirius's death.  
  
"Hey, Cho," Harry began. "Is it true that you're going out with Michael Corner?"  
  
"Michael Corner?" Cho repeated. "Where did you hear that?"  
  
"From Ginny Weasley," Harry answered. "Uh...is it true?"  
  
"Of course not, he's my cousin-in-law!" Cho replied, slightly disgusted.  
  
"He's your...what?!" Harry exclaimed, slightly relieved. "I didn't know that."  
  
Cho looked up at the snitch. "Harry," she said. "How about a little rematch? First one to catch the snitch wins. No quaffle, no chasers, no bludgers. What do you say?"  
  
A smile spread across Harry's face. "Alright. Best out of three?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
The two seekers readied themselves on their brooms.  
  
"Ready?" Cho asked.  
  
"Yep," Harry replied, tensing up.  
  
"On the count of three, then," said Cho. "Three!" And she bolted after the snitch.  
  
"Hey! No fair!" Harry exclaimed playfully, and he shot after her.  
  
The snitch darted here and there as Harry and Cho zoomed after it, their arms outstretched. After a few quick maneuvers, however, the snitch soon found itself, once again, within Harry's grasp.  
  
"That's one catch for me," Harry announced, proudly.  
  
"It isn't over, yet," Cho replied. "You've still got to catch it at least one more time."  
  
"Yeah, I know, I know." He released the snitch, let it hover a good distance, then shot after it again, Cho following close behind him.  
  
This time, the snitch was more determined not to be caught, and was moving even faster than before. Harry's hand was only a few inches away from the tiny ball. He could almost feel its wings beating softly against his fingers. Suddenly, the snitch shot upwards and out of Harry's sight. He stopped and looked around for the snitch, finally spotting it in Cho's closed fist.  
  
Harry was completely stunned. For the first time, Cho had caught the snitch before he did.  
  
"I can't believe it!" Cho exclaimed. "I actually beat Harry Potter to the snitch!"  
  
After Cho had calmed down a bit, the two seekers shot after the snitch one last time. Harry went around one side of the snitch, while Cho went on the other. They both lunged for the snitch at the same time, the snitch shot upwards, and Harry and Cho collided into each other. Fortunately, they were only about three feet off the ground.  
  
Harry landed in a heap on the ground, his limbs entangled with Cho's. When they both came to their senses, they immediately started laughing at what had just happened.  
  
"You...you should have seen your face, Harry!" said Cho, in a fit of laughter.  
  
"You should have seen yours," said Harry, laughing just as hard.  
  
They both sat up and looked at each other. Cho's usually beautiful, dark hair was now static and full of grass, and Harry's glasses were dangling from only one ear.  
  
Harry stood up, but with some difficulty, for he was still dizzy from the collision.  
  
And when Cho tried to get up, she stumbled, fell forward, and locked her arms around Harry's neck in an attempt to keep from falling on her face, but she only brought Harry down with her, instead.  
  
Harry fell backwards onto his back, taking Cho with him. He looked up into Cho's eyes, and they met for the first time in a long while. They stared at each other for almost half a minute, their smiles fading from their faces. His stomach did a huge flip-flop as he looked up into Cho's perfect face, only a mere few inches away from his.  
  
Then, Cho closed her eyes, and began to slowly move her face towards his, her lips slightly parted.  
  
Harry closed his eyes as Cho's face moved closer and closer. His heart beat faster and faster as he anticipated what would happen next. In a few seconds, which seemed more like an eternity, he felt the side of her nose brush softly against his. And then, finally, he felt her soft, warm lips press gently against his. He slowly moved his arms around Cho's small, warm body as her lips gently and softly massaged his. Every detail of this moment was wonderful for Harry. The weight and warmth of Cho's body upon his; the sensation of her breath flowing softly across his face; the slightest twitch of her lips against his.  
  
Finally, Cho pulled her lips away from Harry's, and he was shocked to see that she was trying to hold back tears.  
  
"Cho, what's wrong?" Harry asked, but he already knew. She was upset because, after Cedric's death, she started feeling an attraction to Harry. She was afraid that if she and Harry got together, she would be replacing Cedric. She could just forget about Harry, but that would hurt her even more. What she felt was a combination of sadness, confusion, guilt, and, most of all, fear.  
  
"N-never mind," Cho replied, tears silently flowing down her face. "You...you w-wouldn't understand."  
  
"At least try me," Harry urged on.  
  
Cho paused for a moment. "I...I love you, Harry," she replied, tears silently flowing down her face. "But, I...I just...I just can't do this."  
  
"Do what?" He looked deeper into her eyes. "Does this have anything to do with Cedric?"  
  
She softly nodded her head.  
  
"Cho, listen to me," he said. "I now know how you feel about Cedric. I lost my godfather last year, and you don't need me to tell you that it's no fun. It nearly killed me."  
  
Cho's lower lip trembled as he said this.  
  
"Now, I don't know where Cedric is now," Harry continued. "But I do know that he would never really leave you. And I know you miss him, and that's okay. But do you really think that he can rest in peace while your crying for him? It's been nearly a year and a half, Cho. Do you think he'd want to see you like this, grieving for him all the time? I don't know about you, but I don't think he would."  
  
"So...so you think...you think I should forget about him?"  
  
"Of course not! Don't ever forget about him. He was your first love. He was the one who started it all."  
  
"But...but, wouldn't he be upset about us getting together, after all that he and I have been through?"  
  
"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I really don't. But, I do know one thing. He would want you to be happy. So, what do you say?"  
  
Cho stared at him, then smiled and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Then, she lowered her head back down, but suddenly stopped again. "Wait a moment," she said. "Don't you think we should catch that snitch? It's still flying around."  
  
"Let it fly," Harry replied. "I think I've caught something much better, anyway."  
  
Cho smiled, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips against his once again.  
  
They lied there, kissing, in the quidditch pitch for nearly ten minutes, never once breaking apart from their embrace.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	13. The Creature's Reappearance

CHAPTER 13:  
  
THE CREATURE'S REAPPEARANCE  
  
Harry and Cho had moved out of the pitch and into the stands, where they wouldn't be so obvious. There they sat, side-by-side, Cho's head resting on Harry's shoulder, while his arm was locked around her waist. Occasionally, they would whisper things like 'I love you' into each other's ear, or turn to face each other in order to press their lips together.  
  
"Harry," said Cho. She was looking up at the sky. "It looks like there's a storm coming. Maybe we should get inside."  
  
"Alright," Harry replied.  
  
They climbed down the stairs of the stands and onto the pitch, where rain suddenly began to fall from the sky. Lightning began to flash as they ran over to pick their brooms up from the center of the pitch.  
  
And then, Harry heard it. After nearly two months, he heard the phantom- creature's screaming cry in the distance. Looking up into the darkened sky, amidst the rain and bolts of lightning, he saw the creature high above him, its wings spread-out and motionless, and its large, red eyes glaring down at him.  
  
"Oh, my God!" Cho exclaimed, looking up at the creature. "Harry...what is that?"  
  
Harry didn't answer. He couldn't answer. He was paralyzed with fear.  
  
All of a sudden, the creature dived down towards Harry and Cho like a falcon.  
  
Instinctively, Harry grabbed Cho and pulled her to the ground, holding her down as the creature passed over them. Under the blur that was the creature, he could see an appendage shaped like a clawed hand, almost like an eagle's foot. It missed as it closed shut above them, but one of its talons ripped a large tear in Harry's robe.  
  
The creature soared upwards and turned around, diving back down again.  
  
Harry and Cho grabbed their brooms and kicked off the ground, and the creature immediately sped after Cho, like some giant, demonic bird of prey.  
  
Cho zoomed across the pitch as fast as her broom could take her, but the creature easily kept up with her.  
  
No way, Harry thought to himself. Cho must have been flying seventy or eighty miles per hour. What kind of bird could fly that fast?!  
  
Harry sped off after the creature, hoping to distract it. "HEY!!!" he called out, flying along beside it. "LEAVE HER ALONE!!! I'M THE ONE YOU WANT!!!"  
  
But the creature didn't even seem to notice him. It kept on pursuing Cho. All Harry could do was watch in horror.  
  
The creature was now right above her when it suddenly lunged its foot out and grabbed Cho in its talons.  
  
Cho screamed in pain as the creature's sharp talons wrapped around her torso, ripping cloth and tearing flesh in the process. The creature began to ascend straight up into the sky, almost like a helicopter, taking Cho with it. Then, it flung her to the ground.  
  
Cho collided into the pole of one of the scoring hoops at the end of the pitch, and fell to the ground in a heap.  
  
"CHO!!!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs. He sped towards her limp body as fast as his broom could take him, and landed next to her.  
  
The creature came down to the ground and kneeled over her.  
  
"Get away from her!" Harry screamed angrily.  
  
This time, the creature seemed to hear him. It looked up at him and fixed those frightening, evil eyes on him. It then began to shuffle towards him.  
  
"Stay back!" Harry exclaimed. He pulled his wand out from the sleeve of his robes. "I'm warning you!"  
  
The creature continued to shuffle towards him, not seeming to care that a wand was pointing right at it.  
  
"You come any closer, and I'll blow your ass away!!!" Harry shouted, full of rage. He was still terrified of this creature, and he hated every bit about it. He was tired of being pushed around by this thing. He was going to end it, once and for all. He was going to send it back to Hell where it came from. "STUPEF-"  
  
The creature emitted a deafening howl, and Harry's head filled with intense pain, causing him to drop his wand. It wasn't just his scar that hurt, it was his entire head. This creature could, somehow, psychically trigger intense migraines. When Harry came to his senses, the creature was gone.  
  
Harry rushed over to Cho, knelt down beside her, and turned her over onto her back. To his relief, she was still alive, just unconscious. Her bandage had come off, and her bludger-cut was open and bleeding profusely again. Not knowing what else to do, he ran to the castle, opened the doors, and found Dumbledore in the hallway.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore!" he called out.  
  
"Harry, what's the matter?" Dumbledore asked, a concerned look on his face.  
  
"You remember that creature I described to you earlier this year? Cho Chang's been attacked by it. She needs help!"  
  
A grave look came upon Dumbledore's face. "Lead the way, Harry."  
  
Harry led Dumbledore to the quidditch pitch, where Cho still lay, unconscious. Dumbledore waved his wand, and a floating stretcher appeared under Cho's body. He then followed Dumbledore to the hospital wing, all the while looking down at Cho.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	14. The Creature Unmasked

CHAPTER 14:  
  
The Creature Unmasked  
  
"How is she?" Harry asked Dumbledore outside the hospital wing. "Cho, I mean."  
  
"Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore replied, "says that your friend has a few bruised ribs and a dislocated shoulder, but nothing more serious." He put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "Not to worry, Harry. She'll be fine."  
  
"May I see her?" Harry asked.  
  
"I don't see why not, myself. She's just regained consciousness. However, you'll have to ask Madam Pomfrey for permission."  
  
Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey said yes, but that she'd only give him five minutes.  
  
"Hey, Cho," Harry greeted her softly at her bedside.  
  
Cho smiled up at him. "Hi, Harry." Madam Pomfrey had already reattached her shoulder, and her arm was now in a sling.  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"Like crud."  
  
Harry laughed and kissed her forehead. "I'm just glad you're alright. I don't know what I'd do if you just died on me, then and there." He kissed her on the lips. "So, how long do you have to stay in here?"  
  
"Just for tonight." Just then, the smile vanished from Cho's face, and was replaced by a look of dread, as if she were remembering some sort of torment she recently went through. "H-Harry," she whimpered. "Wh-what was that thing?!"  
  
"I...I don't know," Harry replied, truthfully.  
  
"I don't ever want to see it again!" Cho exclaimed. "That thing was evil! It was the Devil!" She then wrapped her good arm around Harry's neck and burst into tears.  
  
Harry placed his hand behind her head as she cried into his shoulder. "It's okay," he whispered into her ear. "Don't worry. You're safe, here."  
  
Madam Pomfrey rushed into the room. "Alright, time's up," she announced. "Come on, now, Mr. Potter. She needs rest."  
  
***  
  
Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room to find Ron and Hermione waiting for him.  
  
"Where've you been?" Ron asked.  
  
Harry told them all about how Cho was attacked by the creature.  
  
"Oh, my God," Hermione simply said. "It's finally started attacking people."  
  
"What'll we do, Harry?" Ron asked.  
  
Harry thought for a moment. "What we should have done a long time ago," he replied. "Hermione, call a D. A. meeting to order at three, tomorrow."  
  
***  
  
The next day, during the D. A. meeting, Harry told his fellow D. A. members how he'd been seeing the creature throughout the school year.  
  
"You're not alone, then," said Ginny. "I've been seeing it, too."  
  
"So have I," said Neville. "It was so creepy."  
  
"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "You mean you've seen it too?"  
  
"Seen it? It actually chased me!" Colin informed him.  
  
As a matter of fact, almost all of them had seen it. And they all described it in the same way, as being winged, with big, red, frightening eyes.  
  
"Okay, so we all know what it looks like," said Harry. "Big deal! The real question is, how do we stop it from hurting anyone else?"  
  
Nobody said anything.  
  
"Well, first," Hermione began. "I think we should figure out what this thing is in the first place. Now, this may sound rather typical of me, but I think we should go to the library and see what we can find. But not all at once, that would seem way too suspicious. We should just go a few at a time. I'll have to warn you, though, that this may take a while. We may not even find anything."  
  
***  
  
Later that day, Harry, along with Ron and Hermione, went up to the library in order to find something that may be of use.  
  
First, they decided to look in all of the books about magical creatures, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Even the books of newly discovered creatures weren't much help.  
  
"I give up!" Ron groaned. "We've looked through every beast book in the whole bloody library twice, and we still haven't found our mystery creature! Though, I now know about every magical beast that's ever been discovered."  
  
"Maybe what we're looking for isn't really a beast," Hermione suggested.  
  
"Then what could it be?" Harry asked.  
  
"A spirit."  
  
So, they looked in the spirit books. At first, their search was unsuccessful, but then, Hermione exclaimed, "I've found it!"  
  
"SSSHHH!!!!!" Madam Pince hissed loudly from her desk.  
  
"Sorry," Hermione whispered.  
  
"Don't be sorry, just be quiet!" Madam Pince replied.  
  
"Well, what is it?" Harry asked, urgently.  
  
"It's called a Mothman."  
  
"Mothman?" Ron repeated.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You sure this is the creature we're looking for?" Harry asked.  
  
"Positive. According to this, the Mothman, standing about five to eight feet tall, is similar to a human torso in appearance, with a large pair of wings folded against its back. Although it does not flap these wings, it is still capable of flying up to a hundred miles an hour, but is rather awkward on the ground, and tends to shuffle as it walks. Since it is covered in black feathers, and generally avoids any form of light, it is almost invisible when seen. The only part of the Mothman that people usually see is its enormous, red eyes. Anyone looking into these eyes becomes almost entirely paralyzed, incapable of running, screaming, or even moving, and, sometimes, the skin around the victim's eyes redden and inflame. It produces a variety of calls, one similar to the scream of a woman, another a low howl, which has been known to cause severe migraines. The Mothman preys on medium to large-sized mammals, from dogs to cattle, often eating the organs only. It has also been known to shape-shift into a man, and even mimic the voice of one." She looked up at Harry and Ron. "This is definitely our phantom-creature."  
  
"That's great, and all," Ron interrupted. "But, how do we stop it?"  
  
"There's more, Ron! Be patient!" She turned back to the book. "The Mothman has been seen by humans all over the world, since prehistoric times. For some reason, it only shows itself in an area in which an incident is about to occur that will cause a massive death count in the area. It was once seen in a city in China, just a few months before a large dam near the city collapsed. Another time, it appeared near a mine in Germany, just before the mine exploded. It has even been seen in Ukraine, just a few days before the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. However, these incidents were nothing compared to the one that occurred in the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, USA. From 1963 to 1965, over a hundred sightings of the Mothman have occurred in the small town alone. Then, on December 24th, 1965, the Silver Bridge collapsed during rush hour traffic. Thirty-two muggles and ten wizards, forty-two in all, plunged into the freezing waters of the Ohio River. Afterwards, the Mothman has never been seen in Point Pleasant again."  
  
"So, you're saying that this Mothman causes disasters wherever it's seen by humans?" Harry asked.  
  
"That's what it says, here," Hermione replied.  
  
The group fell silent. It was now clear to them what the Mothman was at Hogwarts to do.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	15. Cornstalk

CHAPTER 15:  
  
CORNSTALK  
  
"We've got to tell Dumbledore," Ron exclaimed, trying his best to keep quiet.  
  
"Hold on, Ron," said Hermione. "There's still a little more left." She looked back down at the book. "Among the many theories of the Mothman's origin, the most famous is the Curse of Cornstalk theory. For more information on Cornstalk's Curse, turn to page 190." She did as the book told her. "Here it is. Cornstalk." She cleared her throat. "A little more than two hundred years ago, in the Ohio River Valley, in Southeastern Ohio and western West Virginia, there lived a feared and respected Shawnee chief named Keigh-tugh-gua, which means Cornstalk in English. He was not only a great chief, brave warrior, and fierce fighter, but was also a highly-skilled wizard and polyanimagus."  
  
"What's that?" Ron interrupted.  
  
"What's what?" Hermione asked.  
  
"A poly-whatever?"  
  
"A polyanimagus. It's like an animagus, but capable of changing into more than one animal. However, they're extremely rare, today. Only the Native American wizards have ever been able to master it." She continued reading. "When White men began to move westwards into their river valley in search of the 'promise land', the Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Mingo, Miami, Ottawa, and Illinois tribes massed together to form a mighty confederacy, led by Cornstalk, in order to keep these White men out. Unfortunately, the Native Americans were massacred the White men's muskets, and more than twice as many Native Americans were killed then White men. As time passed, Cornstalk made peace with the White men.  
  
"When the British Redcoats began to tempt the Native Americans into attacking the Colonies, during a period in Muggle history known as the American Revolution, Cornstalk would often inform the White settlers ahead of time. Soon, the tribes massed together to attack the Colonies, after being coaxed by the British. At the same time, Cornstalk and another Native American, Red Hawk, went to the Colonials, telling them that they did not wish to fight with them, but would if the other tribes did so. Almost immediately, the Colonials took both men hostage, thinking that the tribes would not attack the fort if their leader were inside.  
  
"Although taken hostage, the men were treated well, and were given comfortable quarters. This lead some of the tribes to wonder if Cornstalk intentionally taken himself into custody. On November 9th, Cornstalk's son, Ellinipisico, walked up to the fort in order to visit his father. He was also detained.  
  
"The next day, two soldiers, who were hunting deer at the time, were ambushed by Native Americans. One managed to escape. The other died a bloody death. This angered the Colonials so much that they decided to kill their three hostages as revenge. As they burst through the doorway, Cornstalk rose to meet them. He faced them with such bravery that the White men paused momentarily in their attack. Then, they opened fire. The other Native Americans fell dead almost instantly. Cornstalk, however, endured eight shots before finally collapsing to the ground. And as he died, he looked up at the Colonials and uttered a curse upon the Ohio River Valley. This curse is said to have given rise to the Mothman of Point Pleasant."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	16. The Mothman Lives!

Fanfiction.net:  
  
As you have probably figured out by now, I will not be continuing this story. However, if you want to learn more about the Mothman (which is a REAL thing), visit www.mothmanlives.com (which I do not own).  
  
Voz  
  
P. S. If you think you've seen the Mothman, I would love to know about it! E-mail me at mvozzz@yahoo.com to tell me about your experience! 


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